Who says loyalty in the music industry is dead? [artist id="817"]Maxwell[/artist]'s fans are proving that they will stay down. Despite being gone from the scene for almost a decade, the Brooklyn native was able to see his new album, BLACKsummers'night — the first installment of a

Now despite getting love for his music, that doesn't mean that plenty of fans were not disappointed by the soul man's extra-long hiatus. He says he was enjoying life away from music and going through experiences that helped inspire the lyrics for the new opus.

"I don't know why and when and how," Maxwell told MTV News recently in New York about making his music. "I just know when I know."

Max also said he didn't want to be away for this long, but had to put himself first.

"It does break my heart," he said about making his fans wait. "I want the people who love what I do, or listen to what I do to have that comfort and security of having a record every [certain] amount of years. But when I look at someone I really admire like Sade, she's been out of the game for nine years. And I know that this new record is amazing that she's about to put out, because you have a life that you can connect with that music. A lot of times when you see people putting out these records, they're not writing these records. You have somebody saying, 'This is what your life feels like to me.' So I think that the people who listen to the music and who are disappointed [by my absence], they need to take in consideration that life has to be lived in order to create those things they really want to be so good. I know when it doesn't sound good, those same people will tell you that you messed up. For those who have been disappointed, I just want them to understand that's the gist [of what has taken so long] basically."

Was it worth the wait? Fans voted with their wallets over the past few days.